Pickin' and Choosin'...A film and books...

From Publishers Lunch Weekly:

FICTION/DEBUT:

Andrew Davidson's THE GARGOYLE, "a densely packed story about a car-accident victim in the burn ward befriended by a mysterious woman who claims to be a stone carver in a fifteenth-century German abbey" (per NY Mag), to Gerald Howard of Doubleday, at auction, reportedly for "around $1.25 million," by Eric Simonoff at Janklow & Nesbit (US).

THRILLER:

Author of The Blade Itself Marcus Sakey's four books, following Ben Sevier to Dutton, for publication beginning in 2009, by Scott Miller at Trident Media Group (world).

[NOTE: Lee Child's latest, "Bad Luck and Trouble" is one terrific read...As good as advertized? You bet. Don't miss it. :))]

GENERAL/OTHER:

Heather Sharfeddin's WINDLESS SUMMER, in which a motel owner's autistic daughter might be behind the strange happenings in room six, to Kate Miciak at Bantam Dell, in a two-book deal, by Robert Brown at Wylie-Merrick Literary Agency (World).

Victor Gischler's GO-GO GIRLS OF THE APOCALYPSE, in which an ex-insurance salesman leads a small band of survivors through a post-apocalyptic American landscape in search of his ex-wife and a single cup of hot coffee and toward an epic battle to save a new world, to Zach Schisgal at Touchstone Fireside, in a very nice deal, for two books, by David Hale Smith at DHS Literary.

FILM:

Lois Lowry's THE GIVER, set in a utopia gone wrong, a boy, realizing the price of a pain free world, challenges it and runs for his life, to Warner Bros., for producers Doug Wick and Lucy Fisher, by Don Laventhall at Harold Ober Associates.

HISTORY/POLITICS/CURRENT AFFAIRS:

Intelligence expert and author of Gideon's Spies Gordon Thomas's INSIDE BRITISH INTELLIGENCE, an in-depth account of MI5 and MI6, the oldest and most secretive of all modern spying agencies, to John Parsley at Thomas Dunne Books, in a very nice deal, by Barbara Lowenstein at Lowenstein-Yost (world English).

POP CULTURE:

Michael Tonello's BRINGING HOME THE BIRKIN, an amusing whirlwind account of the author's years spent globetrotting and gaming the Hermes system to buy and resell hundreds of the impossible-to-get handbags, to Cassie Jones at William Morrow, in a pre-empt, by Laura Yorke of the Carol Mann Agency (world English).

SCIENCE:

Vicki Leon's FIRST YOU TAKE A HIPPO'S FOREHEAD: Real Science in the Ancient World, a companion book to her WORKING IX TO V: Funeral Clowns, Orgy Planners and Other Prized Professions of the Ancient World, again to George Gibson and Michele Lee Amundsen at Walker, by David Forrer at Inkwell Management (NA).

SPORTS:

Journalist and author of The League David Harris's THE MAN WHO REINVENTED FOOTBALL: Bill Walsh and the Making of the San Francisco 49er Dynasty, a narrative of how, in the 1980s, the NFL's worst team became one of the best in its history, using a rigorous practice regimen, an imaginative playbook, and a highly professional approach to motivating players to redesign the way football is played and the way a franchise is run, including extensive interviews with Walsh, to Bob Loomis and Mark Tavani at Random House, by Kathy Robbins at The Robbins Office (NA).

Top horse racing jockey Edgar Prado's memoir MY GUY BARBARO: How I Was Touched By a Champion, about his relationship with the celebrated racehorse, from their first race together to their victory at the 2006 Kentucky Derby to Barbaro's injury two weeks later and his ultimate death earlier this year, written with Baltimore Sun columnist John Eisenberg, to Kate Hamill at Harper, in a pre-empt, by Scott Waxman at Waxman Literary Agency (world).

UK:

New Scientist and former Nature editorial staffer Jo Marchant's ANTIKYTHERA: Solving the Mystery of a 2000-year-old Computer, the story of a sophisticated ancient Greek geared mechanism that has puzzled academics for more than a century after it was rescued from a shipwreck -- a puzzle that was finally solved by an international team reporting in Nature last year, to Jason Arthur at Heinemann, by Peter Tallack at Conville & Walsh.

Wrap...